Working people, mostly, and not the couple with the labrador from the development brochure. A little over half own their homes. More than a quarter rent from a private landlord. The typical resident is about forty. A third live alone. Nobody here is playing at living by the sea. They live here.
The 2021 census, the source for every population figure on this page, counted about 37,400 people in about 16,200 households. About 54% of households own their home and about 28% rent privately, with most of the rest in social housing. That's a lot of landlords for a town this size, and a lot of tenants for whom "moving to the coast" meant finding the cheapest two-bed within reach of work.
The median resident is 40, and about 27% of people are aged between 25 and 44. That's neither a retirement town nor a student one. It has enough people in their working and child-raising years to keep the schools full and the supermarkets busy on a Saturday. The phrase "young professionals" appears in the listings more often than it does in the census.
Modelled household income averaged about £50,000 before tax in the financial year to March 2023. That's gross, a modelled estimate for the area rather than a figure for any street, and it describes a year that has already moved on. It fits a town where two ordinary wages can still buy a house, something that doesn't hold true everywhere along the south-east coast.
About 34% of households are one person living alone, and about 13% are pensioners on their own, who are counted within that first group rather than on top of it. Couples with dependent children make up about 17% of households and lone parents about 13%. The mix is a town of small households: plenty of flats and terraces lived in by one or two people, with families scattered through the three-bedroom streets rather than filling them.
About 22% of adults hold a degree, and about 21% have no formal qualifications. Full-time students make up about 2% of residents, which rules out any student-town dynamics. The two big groups sit almost level, and that says more about the town's history than any census table could. It grew up around a port and practical work, where trade qualifications counted for more than lecture halls.
Dover's population is the least polished side of the place. On the measures that usually flatter a town, it sits below average, and the people who live here would be the first to tell you so.